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		<title>The name [REDACTED] is as good as gone. &lt;https://y.st./en/weblog/2017/05-May/23.xhtml&gt;</title>
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		<header>
			<h1>The name <span class="redacted">[REDACTED]</span> is as good as gone.</h1>
			<p>Day 00808: <time>Tuesday, 2017 May 23</time></p>
		</header>
<section id="general">
	<h2>General news</h2>
	<p>
		There was almost no time to rest before work.
		I did eat a quick meal though, then shower to cleanse myself of the day&apos;s sweat.
		I made it a cold shower in an attempt to cool my bodily systems, and had a whimsical thought.
		I could inhale the water to cool my core better, but then I&apos;d drown.
		It was a hot day today and the constant exercise didn&apos;t help.
		I wasn&apos;t that uncomfortable, but I feared if I didn&apos;t cool off as much as I could before work, I&apos;d regret it.
		With two to three flame-powered ovens in the room, I&apos;d heat up quickly and spend the night sweaty.
		And that means chafing.
		The chafing was inevitable, but I wanted to minimise it.
	</p>
	<p>
		My downstairs neighbour asked me to provide divorce paperwork for their friend.
		I guess I&apos;m the legal paperwork person now.
		I honestly don&apos;t mind doing it, though I wished at first that the request had come at a time I was less busy.
		It turns out the documents needed are <a href="http://www.courts.oregon.gov/Lane/FamilyandChildren/pages/FamForms.aspx">standardised</a> though, so I won&apos;t have to prepare them.
		Now is a perfect time to simply locate the forms on the court&apos;s website.
		Some are standard to the whole state, while others are standard to the county.
		Which forms are needed depend on the situation though, so I&apos;ll have to report that to my neighbour when I see them.
	</p>
	<p>
		I went into work today and asked one of the shift leaders if we were baking pies today.
		As I work at a pizza place, the obvious implication was that I was referring to pizza pies.
		It helped too that Daddy Gummy Bear always calls them pies instead of pizzas; that terminology is on all of our minds.
		They replied that of course we were baking pies, we bake pies every day.
		So I threw the apple pie I bought the other day into the oven.
		I was tired, but I was in a good mood and wanted to celebrate.
		My cheerfulness was cut short though.
		The pi I brought wasn&apos;t good enough.
		Everyone wanted ice cream to go with it.
		They sent someone to go purchase ice cream to bring back.
		Honestly, I don&apos;t mind that others eat milk products.
		However, I do mine if <strong>*I&apos;m*</strong> the cause of it.
		If I hadn&apos;t brought the pie, the ice cream wouldn&apos;t&apos;ve been consumed.
		I was the cause of something I actively seek to avoid having a hand in.
		It dampened my spirits, and I was no longer in the mood for pie.
		Furthermore though, it was incredibly rude.
		I honestly don&apos;t mind being left out of things.
		But to be left out of <strong>*my own*</strong> celebration?
		I brought in a pie to share with everyone, so they thank me by bringing in a desert they know I can&apos;t have.
		It felt incredibly ungrateful.
		When I didn&apos;t eat any of my own pie, they wouldn&apos;t leave me alone about it.
		They said I should have some, and when I said I was good, they kept pushing.
		Eventually, a couple of them asked why I didn&apos;t want any.
		Great.
		I couldn&apos;t tell them what the actual problem was: that I&apos;d caused the consumption of dairy products, and that it&apos;d left me in a sour mood.
		It&apos;d sound accusatory; I&apos;m not one of <strong>*those*</strong> vegans.
		I leave people to chose their own dining/dressing/et cetera habits and i expect others to leave me to mine.
		I answer questions about my practices when asked, but I don&apos;t push my beliefs.
		My only choice was to make something up on the spot.
		I&apos;d already told some people I&apos;d bring the pie today if the hearing went well.
		Some misremembered and thought I&apos;d promised to bring the pie with no conditions attached, but it mattered not.
		I claimed I wasn&apos;t in the mood for pie today, but as I&apos;d already promised to bring it specifically today, I couldn&apos;t wait until a day I was more in the mood; that&apos;d be breaking my word.
		In any case, I&apos;ve learned my lesson.
		I have half a mind not to bring snacks and deserts for my ungrateful coworkers again, but I know I&apos;ll do it again when my mood improves.
		However, what I won&apos;t do is bring in pie unless I&apos;m prepared to bring vegan ice cream, something I don&apos;t often buy.
		They&apos;ve potentially lost some pies I otherwise would have brought later.
	</p>
	<p>
		I don&apos;t know if I mentioned it before, but our head manager was in a vehicular accident the other day.
		It messed up their back, so they&apos;ve been having to take it easy a bit.
		Their doctor apparently told them they needed to take a bit more time off, so they weren&apos;t at work today.
		I was planning on asking them about changing the name on my pay cheques, but that will have to wait.
		I hope they feel better soon though.
		I don&apos;t like for people to suffer.
	</p>
	<p>
		Near the end of my shift, I noticed the ring from my left hand was gone.
		What happened to it?
		I&apos;ve had that ring (and its mate on my right hand) for only about a week!
		I never could find it, either.
		It slipped off at some point without my noticing.
		With my luck, it probably slipped into the trash or something.
		Silicon rings might not be as good an idea as I thought.
		They bend with my fingers, which is kind of nice, and they&apos;re solid black, so as they wear, they won&apos;t change colours.
		However, their flexible nature also makes it easier for them to slip off unnoticed.
		For now, I&apos;m switching back to my single metal ring.
	</p>
	<p>
		Before heading to bed, I wrote to my program advisor asking how to update my name and email address with the university, including both new pieces of information in my email.
		I know very well I can&apos;t update the email address myself, I have to have someone on the inside do it.
		I&apos;m almost certain the same applies to my name.
		I expect my advisor will forward my request to the appropriate department, and it&apos;ll likely be updated within the week.
		I&apos;ll be happy just to have it updated before the beginning of next term though.
	</p>
	<p>
		My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="law">
	<h2>Legal matters</h2>
	<p>
		This time, knowing the way, I didn&apos;t get lost on my way to the courthouse.
		I had to take a detour due to a closed path, but I still made it in about half an hour.
		When I got lost last time, it doubled the commute!
		I gave myself about the same ammount of time to get there as last time, so I got there an hour before the courthouse opened its doors.
		I don&apos;t know if I mentioned it or not, but I thought I had an extra half hour this time to get to the courtroom.
		I didn&apos;t.
		I thought my ex parte proceeding had been at 08:00, but it was at 08:30, the same time as my hearing today.
		Due to getting there so early, I was the second one in the area, so I was second in line to go through the metal detector line.
		I was first to get to the cashier line, and as hoped, the cashier was the court clerk.
		They notarised my document, and I was plenty early to get into the courtroom.
	</p>
	<p>
		I&apos;m sure it helped a bit that I made preparations to streamline my metal detector experience.
		Last time, my ring and hair clips set off the detector.
		I&apos;ve been meaning to replace that ring, but hadn&apos;t gotten around to it.
		It used to be black, but the outer, black titanium has mostly worn away, exposing the silver stainless steel.
		Soon after going through the metal detector two weeks ago, I ordered a replacement: a pair of black, silicone rings.
		Those had no trouble passing through the detectors.
		Instead of my usual hair clips, I used a plastic hair band I use around my apartment, but not usually out and about.
	</p>
	<p>
		As I waited for the courtroom to open, I overheard someone talking about their own name change.
		Like me, they were there for the second of three needed trips.
		I also saw a dapper-looking gentleman waiting to get into the courtroom, dressed in a black vest, black pants, black hat, black bow tie, and a purple shirt.
		I would lose the tie, but I might look for some similar clothing.
		It looked very nice.
	</p>
	<p>
		When they opened the doors, they announced they were doing ex parte.
		Huh?
		But ... my hearing ...
		I asked if I was supposed to go int too, and after confirming my appointed hearing time, they confirmed I was in the right place.
		The hearing was nothing big, just another ex parte proceeding, but this time, with a scheduled date.
	</p>
	<p>
		The judge asked how to pronounce my name, then immediately pronounced it wrong.
		Everyone pronounces it with two wyes (&quot;Yyst&quot;) instead of one.
		No matter though.
		They called out to see if anyone was there about my name change.
		When no one responded, there was no cause to deny my request.
		The honourable judge approved my name change.
		I was expecting to have to explain the reason for the change, which I was prepared to do, but thankfully, it wasn&apos;t even necessary.
	</p>
	<p>
		Having paid a large sum to have your name changed, the court still doesn&apos;t give you any proof that your name&apos;s been changed.
		Instead, you have to pay them even more money and <strong>*buy*</strong> the proof.
		You can buy regular copies, which aren&apos;t good for much, or pay more for certified copied, which will be accepted by other government agencies.
		I bought two certified copies, just in case I need a backup copy.
	</p>
	<p>
		One of the oddities of this process is that there&apos;s no actual document proving you finalised the name change.
		Today, I got the document needed to prove the court approved the change, but the change won&apos;t, according to the courthouse, be finalised until I visit them again in fifteen days.
		No further documentation will be provided to me at that time though.
		So ... could I get away with updating my name with other government agencies <strong>*today*</strong>?
		As it turns out, the answer is yes!
	</p>
	<p>
		I headed home to regroup, then made my way to the <abbr title="Department of Motor Vehicles">DMV</abbr>.
		Unlike the Social Security Administration office, I knew where to find the <abbr title="Department of Motor Vehicles">DMV</abbr>.
		Furthermore, also unlike my Social Security card, I had a ticking clock on my <abbr title="identification">ID</abbr> card.
		I wasn&apos;t sure they&apos;d accept the judgement document yet, but I could try.
		The good news is that they accepted the court order today.
		The bad news is they refused to renew my <abbr title="identification">ID</abbr> card.
		It was voided when I applied for a learning permit.
		I instead had to pay to have my permit replaced.
		The new permit won&apos;t last as long as the <abbr title="identification">ID</abbr> card would, so I&apos;ll have to pay the fee again prematurely.
		Additionally, I&apos;d love to be free of that driving-eligibility status.
		This time though, they didn&apos;t void my old permit.
		Until it expires, I can identify as my new name or my old name!
		Not that I&apos;d want to use my old name in most circumstances, but this will help the transition process.
		Until I can get my employer to update my name on my pay cheques, I&apos;ll need to keep my old name at at least one financial institution to make depositing them possible.
		I&apos;m not sure how quickly my employer will update the data.
		I also asked about the location of the Social Security Administration office, and it turns out it&apos;s in Eugene.
		I had to make another trip there!
	</p>
	<p>
		I headed home to regroup again.
		On the way, I stopped at the utility company&apos;s office.
		They told me when I asked that I wouldn&apos;t need any documents to update my account, but as anticipated, they&apos;d lied.
		They needed my new <abbr title="Department of Motor Vehicles">DMV</abbr> <abbr title="identification">ID</abbr>.
		I won&apos;t have the permanent card for a while, but they accepted the temporary one the <abbr title="Department of Motor Vehicles">DMV</abbr> printed off for me.
	</p>
	<p>
		On the way to Eugene, I stopped at Emerald Property Management&apos;s office to update my name in their records.
		Next, I stopped at Selco Credit Union.
		A while back, I found my old credit union membership card from them from when I was a child.
		Did I still have an account?
		No, no I did not.
		I didn&apos;t think so, but I needed to be sure.
		I also stopped at Bank of the Cascades.
		I thought I closed my account with them, but they&apos;re still sending me emails about my account.
		Today, they claim my account is already closed.
		So ... they&apos;re just sending me account-based emails for no reason.
		I left them because their system is screwy, so I guess it&apos;s no surprise that their system is still being screwy now.
	</p>
	<p>
		The Social Security administration wanted my telephone number.
		I explained that I don&apos;t have telephone service, and offered my email address.
		They declined.
		Everyone just assumes everyone else has telephone service and prefers to be contacted through it.
		Systems aren&apos;t set up to allow even semi-modern contact methods.
		I mean, email is ancient, and it still isn&apos;t supported my most places.
		They say my Social Security account will be updated by tonight, though the new card will take a while to make it through the mail system.
	</p>
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